


Cell

by setosdarkness



Series: OTP Collection - JuHaku [14]
Category: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Prison, JuHaku Prison AU, M/M, Runaway Criminals AU, Tsunderes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-26
Updated: 2014-12-25
Packaged: 2018-03-03 15:01:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2855030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/setosdarkness/pseuds/setosdarkness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hakuryuu is supposed to have a bright future, since he's the heir to the multinational Kou Industries conglomerate. But then, he loses almost his entire family, gets framed for it, fails in his attempted murder of the real culprit, then gets thrown to a cell with the most annoying cellmate ever. And this is just the beginning. </p><p>[or: JuHaku prison AU that turns to runaway fugitives AU]<br/>[or: the fic inspired by the lovely JuHaku prison AU prompt by #attackonjudalsbraid ❤ ]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cell

**Author's Note:**

> • Inspired by the lovely JuHaku prison AU prompt by #attackonjudalsbraid :) though this one is heavier on the Hakuryuu is being corrupted slowly but surely 8D
> 
> • …So i was already half working on a "runaway criminals" / "fugitives" AU, then I saw that post of attackonjudalsbraid re: JuHaku prison au and the ideas just merged and.... ughhh I'm too weak against JuHaku. I've read one lovely fic inspired by this prompt and I hope that many more are inspired by this too! This fandom needs more JuHaku prison AUs LOL

•••

**CELL**

< _a small room in which a prisoner is locked up_ >  
< _smallest structural and functional unit of an organism_ >

•••

Useless crybaby prince.

Fallen heir.

Powerless. 

Those are just some choice words that have been thrown at one Ren Hakuryuu, once he was found bleeding profusely from his severed left arm, inches away from the evil witch he loathes to call his mother. His words have fallen on deaf ears, just as he revealed his allegations about that witch being the real driving force behind the so-called Great Fire that had burned down the first headquarters of the now multinational conglomerate, just as he divulged the fruits of his own investigations about that witch being the mastermind behind the rumors of their company's involvement with the unsavory lot of the underground.

Instead of his words being heard, he has been framed for the fire that took the lives of his father and his older brothers. On top of that, that woman has manipulated everyone into thinking that he had been about to attack her for her discovery of his false treachery, that she had no choice but to cut his hand off to prevent his violence. None of his investigations are brought up to the court, none of his friends are allowed to testify to solidify his alibi, none of the truths ever make it out.

The last thing he ever sees from the outside world is that witch's fake smile, her favored long-sleeved robe slipping down her hands to reveal a strange tattoo on her palm. She's then surrounded by her lackeys, by her lapdog Kouen and his lackeys, his sister and the ones he could call his friends are ushered far away.

Ren Hakuryuu has been sentenced to a lifetime in prison, without bail, and there's nothing he can ever do to overturn that.

••• **CELL**

"Hey, Hakuryuu! Come and watch me beat these piece of shits up!"

Hakuryuu only tugs the flimsy blanket harder over his head, trying and failing to shut Judar out.

He hasn't had a good night's sleep in a very long time, but he's had less sleep than ever recently, because their neighboring cellmates are apparently enjoying each other's company too much at all times of the day. Hakuryuu initially felt disgust and embarrassment upon realizing what they were doing, but he's always had great meditation techniques that are able to help him tune them out. The problem is his cellmate and quite possibly the most annoying person in existence, Judar.

Judar has, quite expectedly, no knowledge whatsoever of meditation techniques, so he has been kept out all night by the relentless, exaggerated moaning and rhythmic thumps of the metal bedframe against the very thin walls. And when Judar is deprived of sleep, he tends to be a little more enthusiastic when it comes to satiating his bloodlust and his fixation for chaos, which leads to more and more nonsensical fighting during the day that mostly spill into him annoying and bullying Hakuryuu.

It's all very inconvenient and Hakuryuu sometimes wants to just knock himself out against the metal bedframe to escape from all of this madness. (Though he had tried something similar before – he had forcibly hit his head against the metal steps that connect their bunk bed, but then Judar had found him and had apparently forbid him from repeating that by sleeping on top of him for seven nights straight.)

"Hey, Hakuryuuuuuu~~~"

Hakuryuu groans when he hears the sound of the other's bare feet against the floor, arriving closer.

He's never been interested in watching Judar be at the center of a group of people with equal bloodthirsty grins on their faces. Sometimes, he thinks that Kouen must really, truly hate him for placing him inside this maximum security prison, filled with remorseless monsters who don't deserve to see the light of day.

(Against his will, he remembers his arrival here two years ago, when everybody who looked at him jeered and taunted him for failing to finish his job and losing an arm in the process of his failure. Now that he thinks about it, it's really a miracle that the state has even allowed him to be installed with a prosthetic hand. He's not sure if it's because of some twisted pity for the young man who was defenselessly beaten half to death as part of the _welcoming_ initiation ritual, with him outnumbered and overpowered even without taking his one severed limb into account. Judar has been extra annoying during those early days, because he always made sure to verbally abuse the hell out of him, calling him all sorts of names and insults. Now, all of the words that come out of the other prisoners' and jailers' mouths seem fluffy soft in comparison.)

"Don't tell me you're becoming lazy like me, Hakuryuu!" Judar tugs the sheet out of his hold, triumphantly smirking at him as though he has won a prize. Judar is very strange – the obvious parts notwithstanding – since he always looks like he has won the lottery whenever he interacts with Hakuryuu. It makes Hakuryuu uncomfortable, because he likes that look on Judar. It almost underscores his craziness not-even-hiding underneath the surface. "Do you idolize me that much???"

"Hardly," Hakuryuu scoffs in reply, rolling his eyes as he sits up and stretches the kinks out of his muscles. Judar, with a dramatic flourish, makes way for him to step out of the bottom bunk so he can wash his face on the tiny sink that is provided per cell. It's almost disgusting, how they're both now so attuned with each other's habits and routines.

Hakuryuu rubs at his eyes as he hears Judar roll around the bottom bunk. He's long learned to stop feeling so irritated with that – because why give the bottom bunk to him anyway if he's going to sleep there (either squished beside Hakuryuu or flopped on top of Hakuryuu) anyway? – because he's long fed up of fighting losing battles.

"Now that you're all refreshed," Judar says pointedly as Hakuryuu changes into a fresh set of prison uniform, eyes probably assessing Hakuryuu's exposed skin and lingering on the scars, "will you finally watch me fight???"

"I'm on kitchen duty today, remember." Judar has been harping nonstop about wanting to see if Hakuryuu's useless in the kitchen as well for almost three weeks now. Aside from annoying Hakuryuu, that has only served to reiterate that Judar really has no awareness of the outside world and that he really doesn't know who Hakuryuu _was_. Aside from being an heir to a million-dollar company, he's had a couple of shows and events where he had showcased his skills in creating lavish feasts fit for kings, after all. "According to you, I'm even _supposed_ to defy the odds and somehow make peach dessert out of the standard ham and eggs that is served."

"I believe you can do it, Hakuryuu," Judar says it so earnestly that Hakuryuu loses the will to hit him for saying such nonsense. Yes, he's good in the kitchen, but he's not a miracle worker who can somehow raise peaches from artificial ham, probably-rotten eggs and tidbits of low-grade rice.

Hakuryuu doesn't say any of that to Judar though—just ducks his head in some sort of acknowledgement that he's about to leave for his designated prison duty for the month. He definitely doesn't stumble a little bit when Judar waves at him cheerily from his bed, the single sheet wrapped around his person.

(Hakuryuu also definitely doesn't flush like a teenager with a crush when he includes an experimental dessert he made out of sweetened rice to Judar's portion during mealtime and gets a gasp and a blinding grin in response.)

•••

A few more months pass this way, with him being buried deeper and deeper away from the world he used to live in. He thinks of his sister less and less and he even thinks of that witch less and less, because this prison is so far removed from the rest of the world. Kouen had pushed him into this hell while making sure that he doesn't have any way out. It's useless to think of anything else outside of this cell, because this is his world for the rest of his life.

Hakuryuu does go out of the cell during the mandatory cleaning time during their meals and activity time when their jailers assess their status and make sure that they don't make too much trouble. Hakuryuu hasn't seen most of the other prisoners, not only because he likes to keep his head down and his eyes focused on his own feet whenever there's an assembly, but also because a good number of them are SS-rated criminals who are not allowed to leave within a meter away from their beds.

Judar is annoying to deal with, but he's almost a saint compared to the others. He's annoying but he's not _disgusting filth_ like the guy who stopped Hakuryuu on his way back from his last kitchen duty for the month. The guy tilts his head at him, looking at him like he's being stripped bare and judged quite harshly.

"…You're still alive?"

Hakuryuu makes sure his lips remain in that straight line, not interested in speaking with this filthy being.

"…Aw, is Judar being all soft now~~~? Don't tell me you're making him _alllll_ happy hmm~? Figures that he'll go for the broken ones – though it is just a matter of time until he kills you _too_ ~?"

Hakuryuu's breath hitches as he hears that line again. He ducks his head and excuses himself with a tight smile, squaring his shoulders. Judar has never said anything, but Hakuryuu isn't stupid and he knows how to listen for information. Apparently Judar has been killing off all of his previous cellmates—except for him. He isn't stupid but he does wonder what makes him so different to Judar.

But only sometimes though.

He doesn't like devoting time to thinking about Judar's thought processes.

•••

When news of Zurmudd's savage death is reported all throughout the facility, Hakuryuu is surprised that he's not even surprised to hear of that.

"…ugh, they're so noisy, Hakuryuu, make them stop," Judar complains with a sleepy whine, huffing against the blanket that he has stolen from Hakuryuu over the course of the night. Waking up squished next to Judar like this has also ceased to be a cause for surprise. Hakuryuu wonders if he's really being assimilated into this world, to the point that nothing surprises him anymore.

"Zurmudd was apparently ambushed after dinner last night." Hakuryuu murmurs directly to Judar's ear, his arms stiff frozen from being crushed under Judar's weight.

He can hear the clamor of the prisoners from the nearby cells: shouts about different things and agenda like looking for the culprit and either worshipping him for his balls of doing such violence inside a maximum security prison or wishes for duking it out with someone that strong – yells about them being let out of their cells because they are apparently fearing for their lives inside this prison (what a farce).

Judar yawns and burrows deeper against Hakuryuu's right side. "Eh? Zuruuuh? The hell are you talking about?"

Hakuryuu's eyes are wide open so he can see Judar as clearly as he can; the two of them are lying down flush together so he can definitely sense whatever Judar does.

"Zurmudd…" Hakuryuu's voice remains even as he thinks about the _filth_ that died so messily just like the hateful garbage that he is. "…the one you killed last night."

There's no hesitation on Judar's voice – only lazy fatigue – just as there's no change or tremor in Judar's body. "Ah, _that_ one. What, they're looking for the culprit?"

"Naturally."

"Ehhh, how troublesome."

Hakuryuu doesn't tell Judar that he shouldn't have done something like that. He isn't a shackle to Judar, no matter what the rest of the facility thinks – he cannot govern what Judar does or does not do. Though, he does think that it could have been a little less flashy, because this prison is composed of bloodthirsty murderers who will get unnecessarily excited at this kind of display.

"What time did you kill him?"

"Do you honestly expect me to remember, Hakuryuu?"

"I just don't want you whining at me for getting the facts wrong." Hakuryuu is surprised that he isn't surprised by his casual acceptance of this development. He is surprised at how easy it is to maintain calm and act as though everything's normal. He wonders if it's because of Judar's influence or if there's really some truth behind his sister's words from before, when she had pleaded for him to throw his negative emotions away. He wonders if all of those bottled-up feelings are now bursting into play with him isolated from his previous way of life.

Sounding confused and still sleepy, Judar hums against Hakuryuu's neck. "Ehhhh, I did it after I heard him bully you in the hallway? I couldn't help myself!"

"…don't shout, Judar."

(When the interrogators come by their cell to ask for their statements, Hakuryuu's not even surprised that he's able to produce a blush easily while stuttering how he and Judar were _busy_ together the entire time from Zurmudd's death until that very moment.)

(He definitely doesn't lie to protect Judar, definitely not because he wants to somehow repay the other for subtly and not-so-subtly shielding him away from the more insane parts of this facility.)

(He also definitely doesn't blush for real when Judar commends his acting skills.)

•••

Seeing Judar all bloodied and bruised is definitely not the best time to think about how he's never really seen Judar's upper chest before. Hakuryuu isn't interested but he realizes that he's never really paid much attention to it, because Judar is already breaking all sorts of conventions and rules with his preferred get-up (still the standard prison uniform of black shirt and black pants, but his pants are much looser with the constant danger of falling over his hips and his shirt is cropped up so high that his whole midriff is exposed).

…Still, while Judar has never made it a secret that he has watched Hakuryuu change countless of times, Hakuryuu has never laid his eyes upon Judar changing his clothes—and thus, taking off the little piece of cloth that's left on his torso.

But now, Judar is barely conscious from barely getting away successfully from a savage riot that has barely been suppressed by the overwhelmed jailers. Now, there's a huge gash that runs from Judar's right hip all the way to where his heart rests. The infirmary for this place is non-existent and is probably full of others that are more injured. Plus, Judar didn't go there after extracting himself out of that riot and instead, he went to this cell and flopped stomach first to Hakuryuu's bottom bunk.

…Hakuryuu isn't even surprised, but he does sigh at the other's recklessness and at the longer hours of laundry that he'll have to do to scrub off the other's blood from the bedsheets. He reaches for the space under their bed and immediately finds the contraband first aid kit that Judar has somehow pilfered from the infirmary months ago. Judar has been getting into fights less recently so the first aid kit has seen less use in the past few weeks.

(Hakuryuu's not sure if he wants to thank himself for that, because he has scolded Judar so thoroughly that one time that he practically bled his guts out over Hakuryuu's stash of clothing – to the point that he had to get new ones and he had to wear Judar's for an entire week. He caught a cold afterwards because the waste of cloth that Judar calls a shirt is definitely not covering anything.)

…in any case, Hakuryuu knows enough on how to disinfect and bandage cuts. He tugs the cropped shirt up to he can disinfect the last couple of inches of the gash, but Judar suddenly grabs his hand, eyes dark red with exertion.

"…Hakuryuu," he rasps out, "you should wake me up if you want to molest me."

Hakuryuu feels his stomach be filled with savage butterflies that want to burst out of him – not because of Judar's cheeky words, not because of how Judar's smirking at him, but because he can't deny the fact that right there, in the middle of Judar's upper chest, covered by the flimsy piece of cloth, is a replica of the tattoo that he can never forget.

And just like that, the years of finally attaining a fucked-up sort of normalcy in this world has been erased by the memory of that woman's insane smile, by the thought that Judar _is one of them_.

•••

For the next seven days, Hakuryuu sleeps on the top bunk and ignores Judar.

(It definitely doesn't hurt when Judar doesn't even complain or whine about his cold treatment.)

•••

After a week of not even looking at each other, Hakuryuu is roughly shaken awake by his shoulders. He opens his eyes to the sight of Judar looming at him, a manic grin on his face.

Moments later, just as Hakuryuu is about to ask what the hell is going on, there are five consecutive explosions, practically shaking this facility's foundations.

"Hey, some of the prisoners are planning to escape. Let's go and do that too, Hakuryuu!"

(Judar doesn't say it, but he definitely is involved with that plan.)

(Hakuryuu's definitely not relieved to finally find an explanation for Judar being too busy to notice that he's being ignored in the past week.)

"…I'll follow your lead," Hakuryuu says and thinks about how he can use Judar to lead him back to that witch once he rises up from this hell.

(Hakuryuu definitely doesn't feel a twinge of guilt when he thinks that he might have to toss Judar away if it means he can achieve his revenge faster.)

••• **to be continued**

…So I sort of made Hakuryuu into a tsundere way too deep in denial orz the next (and final) chapter should be up soon, but since it has some JuHaku sex scenes in them… I'm kind of slow at writing it. I'm sorry for butchering your idea, #attackonjudalsbraid OTL


End file.
